Guild Wars 2

Why are game companies, specifically MMORPG games so reluctant to give out information and plans for the future?

I think that everyone would be better off knowing what’s expected to come or even possible ideas for the games future.

We can all agree that this game doesn’t really have much hardcore diversity or reasonable longevity. Since ArenaNet has gave us like any information about the upcoming content, most players would rather quit.

Lets say they planned on adding raids or something, at least we’d know what to strive for and keep us playing so we were prepared for when that patch did come out.

I hardly want to play this game now because I know there really isn’t anything for hardcore gamers but if I’d know what is coming, maybe I’d play more.

Electroflux.5320:

Why are game companies, specifically MMORPG games so reluctant to give out information and plans for the future?

I think that everyone would be better off knowing what’s expected to come or even possible ideas for the games future.

We can all agree that this game doesn’t really have much hardcore diversity or reasonable longevity. Since ArenaNet has gave us like any information about the upcoming content, most players would rather quit.

Lets say they planned on adding raids or something, at least we’d know what to strive for and keep us playing so we were prepared for when that patch did come out.

I hardly want to play this game now because I know there really isn’t anything for hardcore gamers but if I’d know what is coming, maybe I’d play more.

“We can all agree that this game doesn’t really have much hardcore diversity or reasonable longevity”

Really? Please don’t speak for me, thanks. Been playing since head start and I don’t plan on quitting any time soon. Have barely scratched the surface of WvW and sPVP as well (not that sPVP has much substance, but still)

Simple, companies don’t give info because such info can compromise the future of a product, if apple said tomorrow the Iphone 6 will have let say a 10 inches wide 20 inches long screen “exaggerating indeed” companies like Samsung could use this to their advantage by coping and copy righting said material, also people love to speculate thus creating an atmosphere of mystery helps the hype.

Also there is the fact that the company might take another drastic decision about said product and suddenly change it whole, people then might loose faith and not want the product anymore. Marketing is all about secrecy and exaggeration, don’t believe me go ask Apple lol!!!

They say the are a transparent company, but in reality it is their biggest failing. They are horrible at communicating updates (ie all of the stealth nerfs), when things will be fixed (temple of balthazar events still bugged and have been for months and they havnt even aknowleged its a problem to my knowlege), and worst of all what will be in the content updates. Nobody knew what was going to happen in every act of the holloween event. I could list so many examples of bad communication on that one. Just for example, I rushed home from work early to get the last witch hat because I thought the event would end at noon pst. Turns out it didnt end then, it ended much much later. And then, after it was over you could just go up to a guy and get it anyway due to the hurricane that struck the east coast. If they would have communicated this I would still have a half day of vaction.

Please dont take this the wrong way, I loved the holloween event, but seriously there isnt a word in the english language to describe how bad this company sucks at communication. Super Fail!

If plans have to be changed they are usually getting called liars and pony-promise-breakers. For a lot there is never enough information aka lend them a finger and they want to bite your hand. You can’t really say they are not talking about plans, they are just talking about the plans they can actually execute.

Also we can all agree that we don’t really all agree on everything.

I do wish the patch notes included everything. i never knew they changed the female norn’s greatsword running animation. It is a good change! If it was said in patch notes, I would have admired it sooner in game.

I think that is has more to do with preventing people from overreacting when content releases don’t meet the expectations created from the content previews.

From my experience playing mmos this has been the case, for example when I was playing Warhammer Online the developers tried to be more open to their future content plans by releasing monthly updates on the direction they were trying to take with the game.

This sounded like a good idea in theory, in definitely got me excited for some of the things that they were going to implement into the game, but in the end they were unable to keep expectations so the game dwindled in population.

Not to say that being 100% secretive is a good thing but it can spark some curiousity and excitement in the community (like with the lost shores event coming up).

In the end ArenaNet can develop the content in their own direction without it being critised at release for being something different to what was “previewed” in the future content updates.

-Sincore

I’ve posted this before but http://www.twitch.tv/mmorpgcom/b/337726366
30 minute interview about future plans and content updates.

What exact kind of transparency are you looking for? Many times they aren’t even sure a feature is going to make it in the game, even while they are working on it. I don’t call that being secretive i call it not giving out incorrect info.

Guild Wars (the original) did a very good job of communicating changes, updates, etc. But it took time, they are actively working on stuff and have said they are more interested in giving out the info at a better pace.

I’m not defending them, but there’s actually all sorts of info they’ve released, both here and across the web.

Information is a valuable commodity, not to be chucked around freely. There exist business models, I’m certain, where free exchange of plans with the customer base is advantageous, but I don’t feel games are one of them. There exist, as touched on, proprietary issues. And, additionally, because of the trial and error nature of game design, it does no one any good to promise things or reveal things that later can’t be delivered on or have to be removed for whatever reason.

Importantly, there are marketing concerns; concerns of timing. There is a balance that is struck between giving out enough information about an upcoming product/update/whatever to keep customers interested and guessing, and not giving it all away too soon that interest peters out before the product is unveiled. The key is to build anticipation to a crescendo right before release, so that when customers are at their most excited, the product is ready to be sold.

Id like to know what is going to be added. What Events will there be and what rewards (detailed on this, pics and all) will there be for completing them. They dont have to tell where the event will be or how to complete it (that way the can still have their precious secrets to build hype with). But I want to know what things I want to participate in so I can plan my limited gaming time as wisly as possible.

Again using the Halloween event as an example. If my GF hadnt wanted to do the scavenger hunt I would have spent all my time gathering candy corn, and getting crafting mats because I thought the scavenger hunt sounded dumb. But when I found out there was a cool book to get out of it, my outlook on the scavenger hunt rapidly changed. But did Anet tell anybody about it. Hell no. Thats a Big issue in my world. It wouldnt have injured their precious hype one single iota to disclose what rewards there would be for finishing the events.

Savoy.6824:

Id like to know what is going to be added. What Events will there be and what rewards (detailed on this, pics and all) will there be for completing them. They dont have to tell where the event will be or how to complete it (that way the can still have their precious secrets to build hype with). But I want to know what things I want to participate in so I can plan my limited gaming time as wisly as possible.

Again using the Halloween event as an example. If my GF hadnt wanted to do the scavenger hunt I would have spent all my time gathering candy corn, and getting crafting mats because I thought the scavenger hunt sounded dumb. But when I found out there was a cool book to get out of it, my outlook on the scavenger hunt rapidly changed. But did Anet tell anybody about it. Hell no. Thats a Big issue in my world. It wouldnt have injured their precious hype one single iota to disclose what rewards there would be for finishing the events.

For this I would say it’s pretty much always down to the players and as a matter of fact guildwars2guru.com has info almost as soon as the patch releases, given players have time to find everything and post it. I doubt they will be communicating all the details of exactly what they put in game, for many mmoer’s that’s part of the fun.

Yeh, 5 min after the update is not near fast enough. The fact is they have to put in so much content for the people who can play the game from the morning to the wee hours of the night so that those players will be happy. Guess what that means for those of us who can only get on for only 2 hours of the entire god kitten thing. We have to pick, that right pick what things we want to complete. And its impossible to make an informed decision about what content you want to do when nothing is comunicated and all of it is a secrete up to the minute of the release.

Also I gurantee you there are way more people who fall into the limited play time category than the play all day category. So a company should be trying to satisfy the largest base. And its not like Im asking for a whole lot. Just what events and what rewards. Like I said keep your secretes about where the event is and how to complete just give a heads up about what events there will be and what rewards there will be for doing them. Is that really so hard?

I watched the interview with MMORPG.com’s Pokket.

He did come across a bit like a politician, in dodging or not answering some of the questions. But also made it clear they plan to do stuff like the Mad King every month, so after 4 months or so, it adds up to a whole expansion’s worth of content, for free.

Nothing to secrete. But it’s just like stores don’t tell you what their day after Xmas sale will be until it’s time, even though they definitely have people working on it already.

Soon™.. Anet is simply terrified to have promise they cant fulfill, thrown back at them like it happens over and over again to the blizzard dev teams .

-the guy that mails ghostcrawler boiled crabs twice a month

telling you their plans:

1- makes them commit to decisions they might want to scrap

2- spoils future content

3- will make you disappointed regardless of what is done, because nothing will match the hype you created in your head.

szar.9054:

Soon™.. Anet is simply terrified to have promise they cant fulfill, thrown back at them

This — always it’s best to under-promise and over-deliver.
As painfully as they’ve been bitten by their failure to live up to When it’s ready™, ArenaNet is gonna be particularly reticent.

Also consider the importance of timing in marketing. If the info about something that’s coming in 4 months is all out there now, it’ll be hard to generate any buzz with old news when the time comes.

They keep things secret because they have to manage expectations. It’s better to say nothing than to have to backtrack on something you promised.

A lot of times, while game studios have a general plan detailing what kind of content they’d like to make for the next year or so, things generally change. Nothing is completely set in stone.

An example of this is could be sPvP and the addition of Paid Tournaments. I’m sure they wanted to include as much as the Tournament system as they could have for launch, but because of a deadline (and the fact that they got to a point at which they thought the game was “ready” for launch), this feature was added later. All things are flexable, and some things simply do not make it as features (which are the things we never hear about, or are never implemented).

This is why companies can’t just tell us their entire plan. They don’t have everything absolutely nailed down.

Ok, theres some light at the end of the tunnel. Thank god Anet listens. The people commenting in this thread sure dont. In the video posted above by munkiman.3068 at the 14 min mark, Colin admits to this failing and says they are going to try do better. Hes responding to the question “what have you learned from the halloween event”. Thank you Colin. That is awesome. I hate to be such a pessimist but will have to withhold praise untill I see actual results but at least they know this is a weak area for them.

So to the original poster of this thread, there is your answer. You hit the nail dead on the head and the director aknowleges this failing and hopefully will do better in the future. And to the rest of you posting in this thread, please never go into marketing as you obviously have no idea what you are talking about.

Because people in general are pretty unreasonable. Gamers especially. There have been a few times Anet let us in on their plans and design choices, and when those changed people threw an absolute fit. I mean, over some really really silly things I have seen some tantrums that a starving, constipated, sleep deprived toddler would be hard-pressed to top. Coming from grown men!

If they just don’t tell us anything until it’s about ready to launch, then if it gets delayed or gods-forbid changes for any reason, there won’t be a huge ruckus over it.

Keep this in mind:
We have been told multiple times they plan to keep content coming to keep things fresh; now only three months since launch we had the Halloween event that added new permanent mini-dungeons, dynamic events, and little surprises, we are getting the Lost Shores free content patch, and in December we get the Wintersday events.

There will always be changes and new content in the pipe-line. If you get bored give the game a break so you don’t burn yourself out, and come back now and then to see what changed and do all the new stuff.